Image-Projecting Contact Lenses Nearer to Reality

A research team has successfully tested Terminator-like contact lenses on rabbits, augmented reality tech takes another step forward.

Contact lenses that project digital images in front of the eyes have passed an important test, according to a team of Washington University researchers working on technology that could someday allow wearers to read floating messages and otherwise enjoy the fruits of augmented reality.

The early returns suggest that James Cameron's Terminator is lapping the field as the go-to analogy in news reports on a development that seems straight out of science fiction. But Watership Down might also be appropriatethe first successful tests of the prototype cyber lenses were done on rabbits, lead researcher Babak Parviz said.

Those prototypes are fairly crude, possessing microcircuitry and a single light-emitting diode that's only capable of projecting about a pixel of visual data in front of the eye. But the team hopes to build lenses that can project hundreds of pixels "to produce complex holographic images," according to the BBC.

Aside from being able to view text messages via the lenses, the technology could eventually allow for many more augmented experiences ranging from the practical (think data about restaurants and shops popping up as you walk down the street) to the entertaining (think of the gaming possibilities).

Of course, challenges remain for the team, Parviz said. The power supply, a wireless battery, only works when it's positioned just a couple of inches away from the lenses.

"We need to improve the antenna design and the associated matching network and optimize the transmission frequency to achieve an overall improvement in the range of wireless transmission," he said. "Our next goal, however, is to incorporate some predetermined text in the contact lens."

But the team did overcome one major hurdle, Parviz said. The human (and presumably rabbit) eye doesn't focus very well on objects that are very close to its surface. To get the contact lenses to work with actual eyes, the team was able to magnify the visual feedback being displayed through the use of thin Fresnel lenses.

Damon Poeter got his start in journalism working for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand. He covered everything from local news to sports and entertainment before settling on technology in the mid-2000s. Prior to joining PCMag, Damon worked at CRN and the Gilroy Dispatch. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle and Japan Times, among other newspapers and periodicals.
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